gay adoption

Mitchell Nance recuses himself over 'conscientious objection'

(Newser) -
Kentucky has another high-profile official taking a stand against homosexuality. Two years after county clerk Kim Davis made headlines by refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples, a judge has declared that he won't preside over adoption cases involving gay parents. Judge Mitchell Nance announced last week that...
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French woman rents out breasts for $130 a day

(Newser) -
A woman offering to rent out her breasts to gay male couples with newborns has stirred up controversy in France, which recently legalized gay marriage and adoption by gay couples, Reuters reports. "I am a young mother in perfect health, a trained nurse of 29, and I am renting...
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Opponents expected to mount legal challenge, protests

(Newser) -
A week after New Zealand musically ushered in gay marriage, France has become planet Earth's 14th nation to legalize same-sex unions. The measure passed today, 331-225, in the National Assembly following weeks of massive and crippling protests against it, reports the BBC , and President Francois Hollande is set to...
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Decision comes on 5-4 vote

(Newser) -
Puerto Rico's Supreme Court has narrowly voted to uphold a law banning gay couples from adopting children. Today's 5-4 vote comes in the case of an unidentified woman who sought to adopt a child that her partner had through in-vitro fertilization. A majority of judges upheld the constitutionality...
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In Christmas address, he calls it 'manipulation of nature'

(Newser) -
The pope used his Christmas speech today, in part, to further denounce gay marriage. Benedict XVI took his opposition "to new heights," the AP reports, saying that homosexuality is a "manipulation of nature" that destroys the "essence of the human creature." The annual speech, one...
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Ministers back it, so it's now on to National Assembly and Senate

(Newser) -
France's top ministers have given the nod of approval to the country's rather suddenly contested gay-marriage and adoption-rights bill, reports CNN . President Francois Hollande's Cabinet today pushed the bill forward, sending it to the National Assembly and Senate, which are expected to vote on it in February...
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New rights go into effect in 2013

(Newser) -
Gay Paree, indeed. Gay couples in France will be handed two big new rights next year: to wed and adopt kids. "In the first half of 2013, the right to marriage and adoption will be open to all couples, without discrimination," PM Jean-Marc Ayrault told parliament today, fulfilling...
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Candidate dodges questions on 'Meet the Press'

(Newser) -
Another tidbit from Michele Bachmann’s media victory lap today: On Meet the Press , Gawker notes, Bachmann dodged (and dodged again… and again…) David Gregory’s repeated attempts to get her to address her 2004 comments that being gay is “personal enslavement.” Instead, she consistently said, “...
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Despite legal hurdles, more same-sex couples adopt

(Newser) -
Despite the fact that they face legal hurdles in at least half of the 50 states, more gay couples are adopting children, US census data shows. About 19% of same-sex couples with children had an adopted child in the house in 2009, up from 8% in 2000, the New York ...
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Proposed overhaul of regulations could have allowed it

(Newser) -
Virginia's Board of Social Services voted late yesterday against a measure that could have let gay couples adopt children in the state. The board voted 7 to 2 to continue to allow faith-based organizations to screen prospective parents' religious and moral beliefs. Currently, discrimation based on national origin, race,...
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It strikes down ban, calls it invasion of privacy in bedroom

(Newser) -
The Arkansas Supreme Court today rejected a voter-approved initiative that barred gay couples and other unmarried people living together from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Associate Justice Robert L. Brown wrote for the court that the law would encroach on adults' right to privacy in the bedroom. "Act...
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'Most draconian' ban falls; adoptions can begin immediately

(Newser) -
A Florida court has struck down the state's 33-year-old ban on gay adoptions, ruling that the law is unconstitutional and there is "no rational basis" for it. Gov. Charlie Crist says the state will stop enforcing the ban immediately, although he hasn't commented on whether the state plans to...
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'Obvious use of stereotype ... as scare tactic': blogger

(Newser) -
A Florida group that opposes adoption by gay couples is guilty of using stereotypes in its “scare tactics,” blogger gwen writes for Sociological Images . The Florida Family Policy Council used a photo of an “androgynous-looking, angry, mannish lesbian couple” to alert members that a different pair had...
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